Monday, May 29, 2017

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has enabled acceptance of JCB debit and credit cards at ATMs and POS terminals in India, through the National Financial Switch and the Rupay Network. JCB is a credit card issuer and acquirer in Japan, with a card acceptance network across 190 countries and territories, and this launch targets tourists and business travellers from Asia, where JCB This will allow a global card base of 101 million JCB card members (across 23 countries and territories) to pay and withdraw money in India, across 225,000 ATMs and over 2 million Point-of-sales terminals, according to a note from the NPCI. Following this partnership, 32 banks will accept JCB cards on ATMs, and two banks on POS. The formal announcement of this launch follows a pilot project in February with ICICI Bank, Union Bank of India and Indian Bank for JCB credit and debit cards acceptance, and with Axis Bank and ICICI Bank for POS acceptance. No target date for enabling 100% reach for ATMs and POS terminals has been specified by the NPCI.

This is particularly interesting, because it is the connection of two country specific networks independent of Visa, MasterCard and American Express; Rupay was built as a network independent of the two global networks, essentially to lower the cost of transaction, and as if in opposition to them, similar to what China did with UnionPay. On its website, NPCI reasons that since the transaction processing will happen domestically, it would lead to lower cost of clearing and settlement for each transaction.

The link between the two payment networks will also allow NPCI member banks (which is pretty much every major bank), to issue co-badged RuPay-JCB International cards, which will work as RuPay cards in India and JCB cards outside the country. According to the NPCI website, the Rupay Global Card currently works with Discover, Diners and Pulse networks in the Asia Pacific region, Europe, Middle East and Africa, North America and Latin America. In the UK, it works with DC Payments, Moneycorp, Travelex, Youtcash and Cardtronics ATMs.

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the nodal agency for digital payment systems in the country, will soon launch its RuPay credit cards for which it has roped in a few banks, a top official said. “Our credit cards will be launched soon. These would be RuPay credit cards. A pilot is going on with five banks. In the pilot, about 7,200 transactions have taken place,” NPCI MD & CEO A P Hota said. Punjab National Bank, Central Bank of India, IDBI Bank, Andhra Bank and Union Bank are working under the pilot project.

“Three more banks will come under credit card product. We will launch the RuPay credit cards soon,” Hota said in an interview to PTI. Besides, the agency will also roll-out an inter-operable tap-and-go card for transit fare payments in buses and metro trains.

“We will start these inter-operable tap-and-go cards for transit payment for metro and bus ride. We are starting this tap-and-go card with Bangalore first. From June, the service will be expanded to Kochi and Ahmadabad,” Hota said.Speaking about digital payment expansion in the country, he said NPCI has now about 2.30 lakh bank ATMs and 3 crore point of sales (POS) terminals under its fold that will help it reach to a maximum people through non-cash mode.

He said installation of micro ATMs by banks through their business correspondents and Aadhaar pay platform will help acceptance of digital payments in rural areas.

“Last year, for all the banks together on the NPCI platform, 9 billion transactions had happened. As per our rough estimate, it was close to one billion till April this year…I believe by 2017-18, it would not be a challenge to meet the 25 billion target as was set in budget,” he added. Hota also said that about 10-12 more banks will join the NPCI infrastructure soon. Currently, there are 44 banks who are already under it.

Sunday, March 12, 2017

For the period between April 2016 and January 2017, 61.79 million transactions took place on e-commerce websites using RuPay cards. The value of these transactions stood at Rs 4,139 crore. Meanwhile, RuPay card usage at POS terminals for the time period stood at 139.26 million transactions and the value of these stood was Rs 21,227 crore.

Predictably, RuPay card usage at e-commerce sites and POS machines shot up during demonetization period. In December 2016, RuPay saw 11.97 million transactions at online sites with a value of Rs 1,095 crore. POS machine transactions with RuPay cards stood at 47.27 million with the value of the transactions at Rs 7,005 crore.

To give context, for the full financial year 2015-16, e-commerce transactions on the card network stood at 10.24 million transactions with a value of Rs 576 crore.

Note that despite accounting for more than 40% of debit cards issued in the country, RuPay’s usage at online sites and POS machines is low. That can be attributed to the fact that a majority of debit cards issued were from the Jan Dhan Yojana financial inclusion programme.

From MediaNama’s interview with National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) CEO and MD in may 2016:

“On POS and e-commerce, we have not grown our share significantly. The market share for them is still bout 5-6% because the bulk of our cards are Jan Dhan Yojana cards. The mainstream cards are about 85 million and the Jan Dhan cards are about 180 million. And most of the e-commerce and POS transactions are from mainstream cards.”

However, it is worth noting that the average ticket size of transactions of RuPay cards at ATMs and POS terminals is comparable to the ticket sizes of all debit cards issued. From an April 2016 report from JM Financial, at ATMs, RuPay’s transaction size was Rs 3,045 while at POS terminals, the ticket size was Rs 1,700. For all debit cards, the corresponding figures stood at Rs 3,092 and Rs 1,700.

Bharat QR

Last month, Visa, MasterCard, RuPay and American Express launched the BharatQR an inter-operable QR code payment system for card networks and banks. Around the same time, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) proposed new slabs for debit card merchant discount rate (MDR) banks will be allowed to charge merchants. It proposed differentiated MDR between acquiring infrastructure involving physical terminals (POS machines, mPOS etc) and digital acceptance infrastructure models (such as QR codes). QR codes payment through cards would attract a fee of 0.3% to 0.85% for merchants. MDR is an inter-bank exchange fee that banks charge for enabling digital transactions. It remains to be seen if BharatQR will increase the usage of debit cards.

Monday, July 11, 2016

RuPay, the domestic card payment service provider which was set to launch its credit card in June this year, has delayed the launch of its product. The earlier timeline for the launch was January, which was later pushed to June. However, now the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has decided to shift the launch date even further.

“RuPay credit card was going to be launched in June 2016 but the launch has been further put off. The board approved date for the launch on August 28 but I think that will be a challenge. But, we will definitely launch the credit card in 2016,” said A P Hota, managing director and chief executive officer, NPCI.

Hota explained that the delay in launch is because NPCI is now working on a higher capacity financial technology infrastructure, which is taking time. “Currently, we have a switching system from Euronet. This has a capacity of 40 million transactions a day. However, the peak volume that we have processed is 14 million. But to be on a safe side, we have started work on a 100-million transaction capacity owned by FIS,” added Hota. The management believes it might take two-three years to reach the 100-million volume capacity mark.

Going ahead, within the credit card segment, NPCI will mainly be focusing on the top end segment, which is the gold or the platinum cards as they believe growth is likely to come from the higher-end variants.

RuPay is a domestic brand in the card space and is owned and developed by NPCI, and aims to compete with Visa and MasterCard that have a strong foothold in the segment. In the past year, RuPay has gained prominence as all the accounts started under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana scheme have been given a RuPay card. According to the latest data, 219.3 million accounts have so far been opened and 180.1 million cards have been issued under this scheme.

Sunday, April 10, 2016

Domestic payment gateway RuPay, whose debit cards make up more than a third of the total number of debit cards in the country, is now working on a "contact-less" debit card...

Domestic payment gateway RuPay, whose debit cards make up more than a third of the total number of debit cards in the country, is now working on a “contact-less” debit card and is looking to launch it within three months, chief operating officer Dilip Asbe told FE.

“Contact-less” debit card will not be required to be dipped or inserted into a machine, and can instead be scanned by the machine without any physical contact whatsoever, unlike the debit and credit cards in play currently.

“We are very excited about this. Of course, we will have to issue fresh certifications to banks to enable them to start issuing these. But so far, we have received extremely positive feedback,” Asbe said.

Started by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) in 2012, the number of RuPay cards is around 250 million, of the total of 644 million debit cards currently in use in India. This is primarily because of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, under which around 170 million RuPay cards were distributed.

NPCI has also issued around 2 million RuPay platinum cards so far. Unlike other gateways, all variants of the RuPay platinum card offer a waiver on fuel surcharge, IRCTC surcharge and free access to lounges across a wide network of airports around the globe. The product has been growing in popularity and will be one of the main focus points for the company going ahead, Asbe said.

The company is now looking forward to launching RuPay credit cards in September, and is aiming at gaining a share of around 10% of the domestic credit card market within the first three years.

As on December 31, the total number of credit cards in India stood at over 22.7 million, issued by 29 banks.

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

India's domestic card service RuPay is an excellent card with better rates than foreign card payment processors for banks, merchants and end-users, but its lack of visibility make for less traction, say industry experts.

Launched in March 2012, RuPay currently has more than 230 million customers and handles 20% of transactions in the country. The card has a lower debit card interchange rate, compared to international service providers, who roughly charge between 0.65%-1% on every transaction. "That's an estimated 400 crore in transaction fees that's going out of the country - which we could retain if we used a domestic card provider," says A P Hota, managing director and CEO of National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

The NPCI has also launched RuPay Platinum and RuPay International, in partnership with Diners' Club and Discover Financial Services, and plans to launch RuPay credit cards by this June. "But do people know about these products. Where is the awareness? Where is the advertising? There needs to be visibility," says S Santhanagopalan, president-finance, TVS Iyengar & Sons Pvt Ltd.

Since processing of transactions happens domestically, usage of RuPay over Visa or Mastercard result in a lower cost of clearing and settlement for each transaction. But this transaction affordability should be driving higher growth and more visibility, says

Currently RuPay is accepted in more than 1.88 lakh ATMs in the National Financial Switch (NFS) network. In tune with the idea of a stronger domestic payment network, the NFS itself is run by the NPCI.

"Having a domestic card makes a lot of sense at every level. I've seen the domestic NETS card used in Singalore and its amazing the kind of reach, convenience and ease of transaction. That way, we are light years behind with RuPay," says Sudhakar G, a chartered accountant with BMR & Associates LLP.

Many people are unaware that RuPay is currently issued in 277 banks in India, including all the public-sector banks like State Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank and all major private banks like ICICI and HDFC.

"I had to ask my private bank to issue me RuPay, because on their own they don't take the initiative to issue the domestic card. I think they already have a good relationship with the international service providers and don't want to jeopardise that," says N Arunkumar, who is employed at a private bank.

"It is an uphill task. We have now talked with some banks and they have agreed to issue RuPay cards on certain days of the month," says NPCI's Hota.

NPCI has also networked with 5 lakh merchants in India and RuPay can be accessed at more than 8.75 lakh POS (point-of-sale) terminals across the country. POSs being the machines one sees at every sale counter at supermarkets, boutiques, restaurants or bars.

"I've seen travel cards in Singapore and its so efficient. The ease of travel is remarkable. I'd certainly see it as a welcome move if any such thing is available in India," says Sudhakar on the NPCI's move to launch a tap-and-go mass transit card in March in Bangalore.

Monday, October 12, 2015

In a bid to increase the currency of its digital money, leading payments and e-commerce company Paytm is planning to launch a virtual card in partnership with RuPay and
a bunch of national banks. The virtual card, which will have a 16-digit
number, just like a physical debit or credit card, will expand Paytm's
reach significantly from 35,000 merchants currently using its digital wallet to 1.5 million merchants, who accept all kinds of electronic payments through plastic cards.

Once rolled out, the virtual card is expected to increase the utility of
money stored on Paytm digital wallets, since it will make it usable
across a much wider network, said Vijay Shekhar Sharma, “We are building
this so that our wallet gets ubiquitously accepted across places.”

PIXEL PUMPING

Paytm plans to launch a virtual card with RuPay

The card which will have a 16-digit number, just like a debit or credit card

It is expected to expand Paytm's reach from 35,000 merchants to 1.5 million

Paytm has applied for a payment bank licence. RBI is expected to announce successful applicants by August

For instance, Taxi firm Uber uses Paytm, but some of its peers don't. Similarly, leading e-commerce companies that
may be competing with Paytm in the e-commerce space also do not use
Paytm. However, after this virtual card is rolled out, consumers can
shop from rival e-commerce sites or book a cab from aggregators other
than Uber using their Paytm money. The virtual card will also give Paytm
a leg up over its competitors which are offering similar services.

Sharma said the company is currently negotiating the commercials with
banks and Rupay, and should be able to launch the product in the next
three months. When asked why consumers will opt for a virtual pre-paid
card when they can just shop using their debit or credit card, Sharma
listed a couple of reasons. Using the debit card might put the entire
bank account at the risk of cyber crime and very few people in the
country have credit cards. There are only 20 million credit card users,
compared to 81 million Paytm users, added Sharma. “Also, our goal is to
provide online experience to even consumers who do not have a bank
account.”

However, the company might face some challenges as Rupay is not
currently offered by each and every bank in India and users might find
the procedure too complicated. Once rolled out, a Paytm consumer will be
able to see the 16-digit number in the application settings. The
company is also exploring the option of issuing a physical card, which
can be used at offline retail merchants.

Since Paytm has also applied for a Payment Bank license with the
Reserve Bank of India (RBI), it will be interesting to note how these
new payment models pan out for the company. In a recent interview to
Business Standard, Sharma had said, “Payment will be our primary play.
We came into business to solve the payment issues of this country and I
am confident we can solve those by using the mobile platform. RBI is
expected to come out with the first list on August 1. If we get a
licence, we can offer a bouquet of financial services.”

At present, Paytm has a user base of 80 million and 30 million for its
mobile wallet service. The number includes users accessing its services
through computers. Sharma expects to see 50 million Paytm app downloads
and a wallet user base of 200 million by the end of 2015-16.

The company is backed by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba's financial
arm Ant Financial. It is set to get close to one million merchants from
China on its marketplace and add about 100 million stock-keeping units
(SKUs) to its platform by July-August as part of the deal. It will also
increase the number of Indian merchants from 40,000 at present to
100,000 by the end of this financial year.

Monday, September 14, 2015

In a bid to promote the use of RuPay, the Indian version of
payment settlement card, the National Payments Corporation of India
(NPCI) is planning to roll out three new versions of the card within the
next one year.

Currently, RuPay card is being issued as debit and Kisan cards, along with the opening of the saving bank accounts.

The company will launch a Mudra card, a credit card and an
international card. NPCI, which had launched the RuPay payment scheme,
is in talks with the US, Japanese and Chinese bank card associations to
enable Indians avail of international services wherever these firms are
operating.RuPay is a card payment settlement system that competes with Visa and
MasterCard. Since its launch in March, 2012 until August 2014, 35
million such cards had been issued.

Mudra Bank
co-branded card will be a new card which will be introduced in
association with Mudra Bank, to cater to entrepreneurs while the new
credit card will pave way for the further acceptance of the RuPay brand
among the customers.

Speaking to reporters here on Monday, M Balachandran, chairman, NPCI
said for the international card, the corporation has tied-up with
Discover Network Merchants, which is the third largest in the US and
Europe and the issuer of Diners card and is in the final stages of talks
with JCB (Japan Credit Bureau) and China UnionPay.

As per the terms with the credit bureaus, while their cards will be
allowed to used in India, through NPCI network, and similarly through
their network RuPay cards will be allowed to access in any part of the
world. “With these tie-ups we will be able to cover almost major parts
of the world,” said Balachandran.

He was in Chennai to kickstart a nation- wide e-Payment literacy workshop on the eve of World Financial Literacy Day.

To increase the user base, the government has asked all the public
sector banks to issue their customers the RuPay cards. Balachandran said
that currently NPCI has a capacity to handle 20 million transactions
per day, and it will be expanded to 40 million in the next two months
and further to 100 million in one year’s time in order to facilitate all
the government subsidy transactions. DBT transactions alone estimated
to be around R1,159 crore through 44 schemes in 94 districts across the
country.

“Once the state governments also start using our system, we need to
have more capacity for which we are getting ready,” said Balachandran.

NPCI would invest around R100-150 crore every year as capital
expenditure to enhance capacities. Transactions under NPCI include
withdrawals from ATMs, point of sale operations and quench clearing.

Around one lakh of the nearly two lakh customers of
Puduvai Bharathiar Grama Bank, the only Regional Rural Bank in the Union
Territory of Puducherry, have been given RuPay cards, said D. Devaraj,
Chairman of the bank at an e-Payments Literacy Workshop on Tuesday.

The
workshop held in Puducherry is among 115 such workshops being held
across the country as a programme of the National Payments Corporation
of India (NPCI), an initiative of the Reserve Bank of India and an
umbrella institution for all retail payment systems in the country.
Here, the workshop was conducted by the Puduvai Bharathiar Grama Bank in
association with NABARD.

A booklet on e-payments
literacy manual was also launched at the event by Shanthamurthy, Joint
Director, Planning and Research Department.

The
workshops are aimed at promoting e-payments and safe banking practices.
Around 200 customers and staff of the Puduvai Bharathiar Grama Bank
participated in the interactive workshop.

New app planned

A.R.
Ramesh, chief project officer, NPCI, Mumbai, took the audience through
various aspects of e-payments like safe usage of ATM cards, fund
transfer through IMPS (Immediate Payment Service), benefits of linking
Aadhaar card and mobile phone number to bank account, and answered their
doubts. Mr. Ramesh said that the NPCI has plans to launch a mobile
application bringing on board a large number of billers for the
convenience of customers. He also spoke about the benefits of the RuPay
card, an initiative of NPCI, with the card being linked to insurance
schemes, such as Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana and Pradhan Mantri
Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana.

“The RuPay card is as good
as cash. It is accepted on leading websites, including 30,000 merchant
websites, besides booking on IRCTC website and airlines websites also,”
he said.

Puducherry has high usage of e-payments,
said Ravichandran from Puduvai Bharathiar Grama Bank, adding that more
than 50 per cent customers at the bank use some kind of e-payment
methods. The event was also attended by O.S. Gnana Sekaran, Assistant
General Manager, Indian Bank Zonal Office, Puducherry, and P.
Veerashankar, Deputy General Manager, NABARD, Chennai. A workshop was
also held at Karaikal.

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

RuPay, the foster child of Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMDJY), is the new payment getaway card in India breaking the long grip of Visa and Master in the card market. And it only looks to increase over the years.

It is interesting to note that, of the 580 million debit cards used in India, 190 million are said to be RuPay card, a huge achievement for a year old card.

The Jan Dhan Yojana, which was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in August 2014, has over 175 million accounts (17.5 crore) as of August 2015.

While 154 million RuPay cards have been issued to the account holders under the PMJDY, banks are also said to have issued 40 million RuPay debit cards to 'non-jan-dhan' accounts.

Having grown so mcuh within a year, the RuPay card is said to have broken the grip of the Visa-Master grip of the card market.

“Untill one year ago MasterCard and Visa Card were predominant in the market while now RuPay has made a mark and we are hoping to increase its presence further”, AP Hota, MD and CEO, National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) which runs RuPay to Hindustan Times.

The NPCI is likely to launch RuPay credit cards by March next year, as per report in HT.

Moreover, NPCI is also said to have tied up with Discover Financial Services and Japanese card network JCB for international acceptance of the RuPay cards.

With the increasing credibility and importance of the card, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRTCT) has also launched a RuPay pre-paid card which allows passengers to book tickets, pay service bills or shop.

Friday, August 7, 2015

Japan’s JCB International and National Payments Council of
India (NPCI) have entered into a strategic partnership for JCB
Acceptance and Card Issuing in India.

NPCI provides RuPay, a domestic card payment network countering Visa and MasterCard.
The agreement, which will initially enable the JCBI cardholders to
transit in all ATMs and credit card swipe machines in India, will
eventually enable the Indian issuers to come out with cards that can be
accepted globally without going through the visa or MasterCard network.

In the first stage of the agreement between the JCBI and NPCI, over
10 lakh card-accepting terminals and 2,00,000 ATMs across India will be
made available to the JCBI cardholders.

Around 165 million RuPay domestic cards have been issued by 426 banks in India.

“The visitors from Japan are many and the economic relationship is
emerging and growing. Since we have built the massive infrastructure
with the cooperation of the banks, the network must be of privilege. We
would like to support the member banks so that their infrastructure will
be utilized to the maximum,” said A.P. Hota, Managing Director and CEO,
NPCI.

India is a growing economy and JCB considers it to become one of the world’s leading consumer markets.

The debit and credit cardholders in the country are also growing steadily.

“We believe our extensive card acceptance network and customer
oriented services across the world will be a strong feature of RuPay/JCB
international cards. We would love to by-implant important product in
promoting RuPay cards throughout the world and contribute to the NPCI
member banks by providing unique and expensive values of JCB Brand,”
said Kimihisa Imada, Deputy President, JCB International Co.

Japan is also finding new partners in the manufacturing sector.

Yamaha showcased the newly developed linear conveyor module for
manufacturing line at a recently held Manufacturing World Japan expo.

Comparing to conventional conveyor, the linear conveyor can freely
manipulate a slider on which the products are moved. It achieves more
advanced convey.

“This is already used in factories across Asia, including in Thailand
and China. It is suitable for large-scale production like manufacturing
mobile phones,” said Nagashima Ryuzo, Sales Office Manager, Yamaha
Motor Co. Ltd.

Suga Systems Inc. showcased a 3D printer called “LOGSITE”, a suitable
product for business or educational purpose. The printer is equipped
with special heater for quicker production.

“I have been involved in making 3D printers from the beginning of
this industry. With that knowledge, we especially want to put focus on
educational industry like introducing this machine to schools and raise
the level of Japanese manufacturing industry,” said Tokuzo Suga, a
representative of Suga Systems Inc.

The Japanese companies are fast expanding their base by joining hands
with local companies throughout Asia. It not only helps the Japanese
firms to grow, but also helps them in introducing advanced technology to
their partner firms in the Asian subcontinent.

Friday, June 12, 2015

NPCI had brought to life RuPay debit cards in 2012.

It was recently revealed by the National Payment Corporation of India
(NPCI), a government agency, that RuPay-branded credit cards would be
launched in less than 10 months from now. Lalatendu Mishra and S.
Varadharajan have this explainer on RuPay:

What is RuPay?

RuPay is India’s own card payment scheme. Like all other card payment
schemes, notably Visa and MasterCard, it was created to ensure cashless
transactions. The scheme was conceived by NPCI, an initiative of the
Reserve Bank of India and an umbrella institution for all retail payment
systems in the country.

Why the name RuPay?

RuPay is a play of the words rupee and payment. It was originally called IndiaPay.

So, you can do with RuPay what you can do with other cards?

Yes, you can use them at ATMs, as well as while shopping both online and offline.

How does any card system work?

Imagine you are paying for your grocery purchases at a supermarket using
your card. When your card is swiped, the seller’s bank submits the
transaction through a card payment network (the likes of Visa or RuPay)
to the bank that issued your card in the first place. The card payment
network forms the middle layer connecting the card issuing bank and the
seller’s merchant bank.

When there are other such systems already, why one more in the form of RuPay?

RBI wants to back a domestic card system with a few goals. One, provide
affordable electronic transactions for local banks. Two, promote
financial inclusion. The idea of a domestic card is to break the
dominance of international majors such as Visa and MasterCard.

The website of NPCI also lists as a benefit the fact that transaction and customer data of RuPay users will stay in India.

Where are RuPay cards accepted?

They are accepted at more than one million points of sale terminals.
Over 20,000 online merchants accept RuPay cards. Internationally, RuPay
cards can be used at all Discover & Diner PoS and ATM networks.

How affordable are RuPay cards for banks?

Banks pay higher transaction fee in case of foreign cards such as Visa
and MasterCard. Since the transaction processing of RuPay happens
domestically, it leads to lower cost for clearing and settlement of
transactions. According to NPCI officials, the cost is around one-third
of the fee charged by foreign card brands.

How much does NPCI charge for use of RuPay?

For use at ATMs, banks are charged 45 paise per transaction and 90 paise
per transaction at point-of-sale in merchant establishments or
e-commerce platforms, irrespective of the transaction value. Other card
systems charge more in case of high value transactions.

What is RuPay's market share in India?

According to information in the Finance Ministry’s website, around 14
crore RuPay cards have been issued till date. Out of the 50 crore debit
cards and two crore credit cards in circulation, this works out to about
27 per cent. And, this number has been achieved in less than three
years. Out of the 14 crore cards issued, 55 per cent are active,
according to Finance Ministry data. The recent Jan Dhan Yojna has given
RuPay a big boost as every account-holder is getting the RuPay card. The
direct benefits transfer scheme has also helped in making the RuPay
cards active.

Sunday, April 26, 2015

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) on Monday said it
has completed system integration to enable e-commerce transactions
through RuPay cards of public sector banks.

"RuPay card holders of all public sector banks are now e-commerce
enabled. Card-holders can now conveniently purchase rail, road and air
tickets by logging into the websites of travel companies or buy goods
and services from online stores," an NPCI statement said.

Multiple levels of integration with the bank servers are required for
enabling transactions like ATM usage, usage at point of sale terminals
and e-commerce thorough the cards.

The RuPay cards, launched by the Reserve Bank of India-promoted NPCI,
are alternative to foreign cards like Visa and MasterCard, which earn
high revenue for facilitating transactions. There are 140 million RuPay
cards in use at present.

The state-run lenders are the most active in issuing these indigenous cards.

For using the RuPay card for e-commerce transactions, a one-time user
registration will have to be done at the time of the first transaction
after which there would be the standard two-factor authentication
process.

Over 30,000 online merchants in the country now accept RuPay cards,
which includes Flipkart, IRCTC, Jet Airways, Snapdeal, Life Insurance
Corp (LIC), Bookmyshow and Homeshop18.

In a first-ofits- kind initiative, the Kozhikode District Cooperative
Bank (KDCB) will be issuing exclusive RuPay ATM cards for student
account holders. Aimed at attracting younger generation to KDCB, the
savings bank account scheme of KDCB for minors is awaiting the final nod
from the National Payments Commission of India (NPCI).

In the
first phase, KDCB’s plan is to encourage high school and higher
secondary schools of the district to open savings bank account for
minors within a year. The scheme will be implemented with the support of
the Education Department, and the account will be linked to the Aadhaar
number. KDCB has also designed a colourful Student RuPay card, which is
entirely different from the bank’s debit card.
According to KDCB general manager Abdul Mujeeb, currently majority of
the customers who are availing of the facilities of KDCB belongs to the
older generation. “KDCB’s Student Rupay card scheme not only aims to
attract youth to the bank but also to impart knowledge on new banking
technologies to them. We are expecting the final approval from the NPCI
at the end of this month,” the general manager said.

Further
explaining, Abdul Mujeeb said: “RBI norms allow any person who is above
the age of 10 years to open a savings bank account. However, KDCB is the
first banking institution, perhaps in the country, to design a special
scheme in a bid to encourage the students to do banking of their own.”
As
per the scheme, any boy or girl of 10 years of age can open a savings
bank account with any of the branches of KDCB in the individual’s name
by depositing a minimum amount of Rs 100. Though there is no need for
the parent or guardian for joining in, the minor will have to get his
specimen signature attested by the parent.

The savings bank
account of minors will have facilities like internet banking, debit card
and ATM in addition to cheque book facility. However, the minor has to
ensure a continuous minimum balance of Rs 500 to avail of the cheque
book facility. Moreover, the cheque issued from a minor account will
bear a prescription indicating the same and it would be valid only for a
maximum amount of Rs 5,000.

According to the KDCB general
manager, besides students, the scheme would be beneficial to
parents as
well as the educational institutions.

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Differences have emerged between the government and the National
Payment Corporation of India (NPCI), the issuer of RuPay debit card that
is given free with every bank account opened under the Pradhan Mantri
Jan-Dhan Yojana, over the insurance cover on the inactive cards.

NPCI
is of the view that any cardholder who has not swiped the debit card
even once in 45 days should not be entitled to insurance cover, while
the government says that any such condition defeats the purpose of the
national mission for financial inclusion.

Officials told ET that NPCI has argued that imposition of this
condition will prompt the cardholders to be active users of RuPay, which
competes with established players like Visa and Mastercard.
It has proposed that if the government wants to ex tend the duration of
swipe to 90 days or 180 days, it should be willing to pay a part of
premium expenses that are currently borne by NPCI.

Currently, private insurer HDFC Ergo
provides personal accident cover up to Rs 1 lakh to the RuPay
cardholders, only if the card is swiped within 45 days of the incident.

Originally, NPCI had called for a tender with a clause mandating a
swipe within 45 days, but later it issued a fresh tender, seeking bids
for insurance cover for various durations. It called for bids that would
cover personal accident when the swipe is within 45 days, 90 days and
180 days of the incident. The bid ding, which closed last week, invited
tenders for the next fiscal and only one of the durations will be
accepted in consultation with the government.

We have conveyed to the government that we will pay premiums, only if
there is a swipe once in 45 days. However, if the government desires to
extend it to 90 days or 180 days, it should pay the difference in the
premium between 45 days and 90 days or 180 days, whichever period it
chooses," said AP Hota, MD and CEO of NPCI.

As a late entrant in
the card business, NPCI feels that the condition to swipe the card
within the stipulated time will help establish it as a prominent player,
particularly since big banks already have tie-ups with its rivals Visa
and Mastercard.

The company has called for bids for all
cardholders, which are estimated at 20 crore. The cover will include
death and permanent disability due to accident. The claim has to be
intimidated within 90 days of incident and settled within 10 days of
receiving all documents.

Monday, February 2, 2015

The government, which is striving to take banking to every household
in the country and reduce the number of cash transactions, is
aggressively promoting the use of state-backed RuPay cards by offering 1% cashback, in a direct challenge to card companies such as Visa and MasterCard.

RuPay is an Indian domestic card scheme launched by the National
Payments Corporation of India that can be used at ATMs, PoS terminals
and e-commerce websites. Apart from all public sector banks, regional
rural banks and co-operative banks issue RuPay cards in an effort to
promote financial inclusion. Other countries have encouraged the use of
plastic money by incentivizing people through cash-back and lower tax.

"South Korea had offered similar encouragement and the result was
phenomenal," said AP Hota, managing director and CEO, National Payment
Corporation of India, adding, "There are places where if you pay by
card, tax on goods is lowered." Under the Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan
Yojana, the number of accounts opened was 11.5 crore as of January 17
after a survey of 21.02 crore households.

Of the total bank accounts opened, 3.23 crore have deposits worth Rs 9,188 crore, finance ministerArun Jaitley
had said on Tuesday. RuPay cards have been issued to more than 10 crore
beneficiaries so far under the scheme as the government tries to move
to a cashless society in the long-run. There is an overdraft facility
under the scheme.

All RuPay cardholders under the Jan-Dhan scheme are eligible for personal accident as well as life insurance cover, the charges of which are lower than other cards in the market. But despite the lower processing fee compared with MasterCard and Visa, the RuPay isn't widely used as yet.

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated today (December 11, 2014) a Financial Literacy Centre and a Financial Library at Dr. Rajendra Prasad Sarvodaya
Vidyalaya in the Presidents Estate. A Financial Awareness Festival was
also held in which students of Dr. Rajendra Prasad Sarvodaya Vidyalaya
as well as residents of the Presidents Estate were trained in financial
literacy using a model bank branch of the State Bank of India. NPCI
through RuPay Cards gave Rs. 25/- credit to each student to buy books,
educating them thereby about card transactions. Financial games, quizzes
and other activities were also organized for students, children and
parents.

The Rashtrapati Bhavan launched a campaign for turning
the Presidents Estate into a financially inclusive township (FIT) on
September 27, 2014.

The campaign included:-

A financial literacy programme.

Enrolling all residents in UIDAIs Aadhar scheme.

Opening of Saving Bank Accounts for the unbanked under the Pradhanmantri Jan Dhan Yojana.

Enrolment of people in Swavalamban, - a special scheme of the Pension
Fund Regulatory and Development Authority for those belonging to the
unorganized sector.

Issue of RuPay Cards to new as well as existing account holders of the United Bank of India within the Estate.

To develop a comprehensive strategy, an action plan was developed in
association with representatives of United Bank of India, State Bank of
India, National Payment Corporation of India,Pension Fund Regulatory and
Development Authority, UIDAI etc. Financial literacy-cum-inclusion
camps for residents of the Estate were organized on September 27-28,
2014 and December 7-9, 2014to enrol residents of the Presidents Estate
in various schemes.Special attention was given to senior citizens,
women, special children, domestic help and contractual workers.

Subsequent to the camp held in September 2014, the United Bank of India carried
out a comprehensive survey through door-to-door mapping to ensure that
there are no households left without any bank account. Domestic help and
contractual workers not covered under any health scheme were also
provided benefits under the Delhi Governments Arogya Yojana.

The pilot project to make Presidents Estate an FIT has been undertaken
to establish a model of convergence in government programmes and
services and ensure that benefits of various schemes accrue to all
residents of the Presidents Estate, who number around 5000 persons.

Sunday, October 26, 2014

After Flipkart, home-grown payments gateway RuPay has tied up with Amazon and one of the largest carriers Jet Airways.

With this, the RuPay debit card holders can now shop best deals
on Amazon and book air tickets on Jet Airways, the Reserve Bank-promoted
National Payment Corporation which issues the RuPay cards said in a
statement today.

"Acceptance on Amazon is a breakthrough for us. We are glad to
offer a wider horizon to our cardholders to transact online. Also, our
integration with Jet Airways will definitely benefit our cardholders,,"
says NPCI managing director AP Hota said.

Commenting on the tie-up, Amazon India general manager for
payments Srinivas Rao said, the arrangement is in line with its strategy
of offering the widest set of customers a variety of payment options
that will enhance their shopping experience.

The NPCI had last week announced that it has tied up with
Flipkart, Snapdeal and LIC who are among over 15,000 merchants who will
be accepting the RuPay cards, which are the homegrown alternative to
foreign gateways like Visa and MasterCard.

Following the tie-up Jet Airways has begun accepting RuPay cards
on their site for air-ticketing, airlines’ senior vice-president Gaurang
Shetty said.

NPCI has already issued more than 30 million RuPay cards, which
are accepted at all ATMs, and by 9.8 lakhs POS terminals and over 15000
online merchants.

The domestic online retail industry, as per a Crisil report, is
expected to touch Rs 50,400 crore by FY16 from Rs 1,500 crore in FY08.

According to online industry body IAMAI, travel has emerged out
as the most transacted segment in the online space accounting for 60
percent of online payments. The value of online payments for travel
industry stood at Rs 50,000 crore in FY13.

Sunday, October 19, 2014

RuPay e-Commerce has roped in big online merchants such as IRCTC, Life
Insurance Corporation (LIC), Flipkart and Snapdeal to facilitate online
payments.

RuPay cards’ acceptance has grown to over 15,000 online merchants with
having a customer base of 30 million RuPay cards that are acceptable at
all ATMs and 9.8 lakh PoS (point of sale) and over 15000 online
merchants in the country, said RuPay in a statement.

With this arrangement, RuPay card holders can book train tickets on
irctc.co.in, make online payments for LIC premium, shop on Flipkart.com,
Snapdeal.com, Homeshop18.com and book movie tickets on Bookmyshow.com.
Also, the country’s largest bank- State Bank of India (SBI) has started
accepting RuPay cards on its payment gateway. RuPay e-Commerce service
was launched in June 2013 with an additional anti-phishing feature for
security checks, the statement

“Team-SBI is quite upbeat about the development. State Bank Payment
Gateway (PG) facilitates every month, around 1.3 crore Card-Not-Present
(CNP) transactions. Addition of RuPay platform will give a further boost
to e-commerce transactions. Flipkart is one of our active merchants.
Acceptance of RuPay Card for online transactions by Flipkart will add to
the transaction flow from their site to our NetBanking and PG”, said B
Sriram, Managing Director at SBI.

Sachin Bansal, Co-founder and CEO, Flipkart, said “Payments is a core
area of focus for Flipkart. We are constantly looking for ways to expand
and improve the payments experience on our site and this initiative
with RuPay is an important step in that direction. We look forward to
working with SBI and NPCI on more such initiatives that will contribute
towards enhancing the payments ecosystem for our customers”.

RuPay scheme aims at addressing the needs of Indian consumer, merchants
and banks with benefits attached to it including - lower cost,
customized product offering, protection of information related to Indian
consumers, electronic product options as relevant to
untapped/unexplored consumer segments and Inter-operability between
payment channels and products.

A P Hota, MD and CEO, NPCI said, “Acceptance on large merchants like
IRCTC, LIC, Flipkart, Homeshop18, Snapdeal and BookMyShow among others
marks an important milestone for RuPay ecommerce. Today, 30 million
RuPay cards have already been issued in the country. RuPay cards today
are enabled at all ATMs across the country, 9.8 Lakhs POS terminals and
over 15000 online merchants. It is our vision to touch every Indian with
at least one payment mode of NPCI by 2020”

NPCI offers e-commerce solution PaySecure, through which a RuPay
cardholder uses ATM PIN to make an online transaction which is easy and
quick.

Speaking on the sidelines of the launch of RuPay card at GSC Bank on
Tuesday, S K Gupta, chief project officer, RuPay, National Payments
Corporation of India (NPCI) said that in six months, every household in
the country below poverty line (BPL) will have a bank account and a
RuPay card. More than 40 million RuPay cards have been issued in the
country till now. "There are 2,000 licenced banks in the country.
Earlier, only 50-55 banks could issue debit cards but now around 310
banks are issuing RuPay cards," said Gupta.

RuPay card which
was launched 2.5 years back is fully Indian card payment network set up
by NPCI. Along with a RuPay card, customer also gets an accidental
insurance of Rs 1 lakh, the scheme will be valid till March 2015.

Under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), three districts in
Gujarat have achieved target of opening one bank account in each
household. Porbandar, Mehsana and Gandhinagar have reported that at
least one bank account of all households has been opened thereby making
these areas fully saturated in PMJDY. There are 1.22 crore households in
Gujarat, of which more than 95 lakh households have one or more bank
accounts as of now. As on October 7, 2014, 5.52 crore accounts have been
opened and a deposit of Rs 4268 crore have been mobilized under PMJDY
so far.